Recovered bullet - crazy ricochet?
 

I shot a doe last Saturday - 100 yards, Marlin 35, 200gr Corelokt. It was a typical shot just behind the left shoulder - in fact, I grazed the back edge of the shoulder. She went about 50 ft. before dropping. When I field dressed her, I couldn't find an exit wound, which is not necessarily unusual. I did find a big carved-out chunk inside the back right ribs. I also found it strange that when I quartered the deer, one leg seemed stiffer than the other. Well, when I was carving the meat up last night, I found out why - the bullet was lodged in the back right leg. The femur was blown completely in half. I'm amazed she ran as far as she did.

Anyway, I shot completely perpendicular to her (a picture-perfect shot) and the leg skipped at almost a right angle once it entered her. I can trace the trajectory - skipping a bit off the shoulder, more off a rib, more off the ribs on the other side, out the body and into the leg.

I'm still new to hunting, and know that bullets don't always pass straight through, but that sure seems like a wild ride!

Is this unusual? Characteristic of the bullet I'm using? Thoughts?

Yes it is unusual. While ribs definitely have the ability to deflect a bullet to a degree, it is hard to imagine a rib deflecting a bullet at such a sever angle (about 90 degrees) and maintaining the needed energy to continue through the deer lenght ways and still have enough energy to shatter a femur. Not doubting your findings, just stating that you'd be had pressed to repeat those findings in your hunting career.

My first thought after finding the bullet was that maybe it was someone else's bullet - that I had shot a previously injured deer. I compared it with a recovered round from the range and, sure enough, it's the one I put in her. Crazy.

She's in the freezer. That's all that matters.

strange that a rib would not break and you wouldnt get a passthrough i guess that deer drank its fair share of milk that day

I once shot a doe about 175 yards away with a .243 100gr. psp bullet. I hit her broadside facing to the right. I hit her slightly high left, just off the corner of her scapula... the thin part.

Don't know how the heck it happened, but that bullet seemed to somehow circle back and mess up the meat on that whole shoulder, front back, top and bottom! Never saw a bullet fragment like that and do so much damage on the same side it went in on. Amazing. And the neck roast on that same side was toast too.

And and and, almost forgot!... it messed up much of the backstrap too! Bummer.

Bullets do strange things.

iSnipe

That quite unusual for a heavy, 35 Rem. bullet. I could see this hapening with a 243 or 6mm with a light fast bullet, but this is a surprise.. Thanks for the info.

Thats definitely unusually, but not unheard of.

I had a .270 Winchester ballistic tip that did something crazy several years ago. I shot an 8 point buck, completely broadside, about 70 yards, just behind the shoulder. The bullet turned at a 90 degree angle and went up the neck, busting up the vertebrae, with a small piece of the bullet coming out the hide on the other side of the neck. That was the last time I shot a ballistic tip at a deer.

If you watch too long through the scope, the angles start to get goofy.

It's also possible the deer spooked and turned at the same time the bullet was entering and you never even knew the deer was turning as you were felling the recoil and wouldn't see it happen. It's less likely with a gun as it is a bow where it happens quite often but is still very possible with a bullet. WCL